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This isn't good. Moderates are what we need more than anything at a time like this.

I'm feeling particularly uneasy.

In the modern GOP 'moderate Republican' is spelled 'RINO'. Anyone outside the GOP is a bleeding heart, Socialist, Pinko, Commie Leftist who hates white people and God. Or worse. Those are the good ones.

There are no moderates in their worldview.

__________________"It never does just what I want, but only what I tell it."
"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."

Collins voted for the nuclear option and for Gorsuch. It's not like a potential judge is going to say "I'm going to overturn Roe v. Wade".

It is theoretically possible for a moderate Republican to force a moderate judge, but I'm not holding my breath.

__________________As cultural anthropologists have always said "human culture" = "human nature". You might as well put a fish on the moon to test how it "swims naturally" without the "influence of water". -Earthborn

- Withdrawn from TPP
- Withdrawn from Paris accord
- Has given notice to the G7 and the world at large that he won't be messed with on trade
- Brought all kinds of manufacturing and mining jobs back to the US *
- Sunk the Iran nuclear deal
- Brought peace to Korea
- Fully supported Israel
- Implemented a (not a) Muslim ban

* facts don't matter

Should have put an asterisk next to "Korea" there as well. They've said and done nothing thus far, despite Cheeto Benito's statements that they have.

That one about Israel is highly important to end-timers, of course - because as we all know, Jesus himself very clearly stated that it's easy to predict the time of his return, and also he hates dudes kissing and fertilized eggs are full humans. People just kind of forget that passage, though.

Oh, yeah, the voter suppression has gotten terrible. Did you know that 137 million people voted for President in 2016, as compared to 105 million in 2000?

This is kind of like people comparing the economy at high point in the business cycle versus a low point (e.g., President George H.W. Bush's first year in office versus Clinton's). Two-thousand was a low point because believed the parties closely resembled one another.

It's not exactly a secret that Republicans want to reduce voter turnout, and Democrats want to increase it. Whenever I raise the argument for mandatory voting, conservatives dismiss it as "helping Democrats."

__________________April 13th, 2018:
Ranb: I can't think of anything useful you contributed to a thread in the last few years.

I'm really confused. Why are people talking about Trump appointing anybody? I thought we established the precedent that Supreme Court vacancies are filled by whoever the next president is, not the current one? Because of voting, the people, etc etc.

That is one hell of a red herring, and you know it,and totally ignores the gerrnymandering issue.

As well as the openly stated intention of multiple GOPers in charge of drawing district lines, such as in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

(This is one area that quite a few people are working on, as well, as the problem has become downright ridiculous in how openly unrepresentative many of these maps have become - but it's no guarantee it'll work)

It's voter turnout statistics and includes "the denominator" you asked for.

No, that's not what I asked for. Brainster needs to provide data with a denominator that is meaningful. A data dump of voter stats for me to go through and make a cogent argument which isn't even a supportable premise in the first place does not support his claim.

Hint: his claim that more voters 16 years later proves the vote wasn't suppressed is unsupportable because there are dozens of variables even if he had comparable denominators.

__________________Restore checks and balances no matter your party affiliation.

No, that's not what I asked for. Brainster needs to provide data with a denominator that is meaningful. A data dump of voter stats for me to go through and make a cogent argument which isn't even a supportable premise in the first place does not support his claim.

Hint: his claim that more voters 16 years later proves the vote wasn't suppressed is unsupportable because there are dozens of variables even if he had comparable denominators.

I always regret trying to help you.

__________________REJ (Robert E Jones) posting anonymously under my real name for 30 years.

Make a fire for a man and you keep him warm for a day. Set him on fire and you keep him warm for the rest of his life.

IMO the vast majority are still far more scared of being primaried than they are of losing the election. After all they already have a 7% advantage, imagine how wide that will be when GOP voter suppression, aided and abetted by a sympathetic SCOTUS, really switches into high gear.

I find this unnecessarily hyperbolic. Who needs voter suppression when you have Jimmy Dore telling every progressive not to vote for the "establishment".

This is kind of like people comparing the economy at high point in the business cycle versus a low point (e.g., President George H.W. Bush's first year in office versus Clinton's). Two-thousand was a low point because believed the parties closely resembled one another.

That is one hell of a red herring, and you know it,and totally ignores the gerrnymandering issue.

Why is it a red herring to point out that voter turnout as a percentage of the population was 55.5% in 2016, the third highest turnout in the last 12 presidential elections? Because it doesn't fit the voter suppression narrative is my guess.

First, the Supreme Court has, in general, been deeply hostile towards civil rights in general, and that very clearly includes the Roberts Court. We still win long term anyway, sometimes by force.

Second, there's a lot of "Congress has granted this power to the President" - pretty obvious fix there, don't vote for misogynists, white supremacists, islamophobes, homophobes, transphobes, and so forth. And if you have an overt bigot on your ballot, like, say, Dolt 45, then vote against them, instead of sitting it out in a huff because the opponent is "the same" or whatever.

Of course, again, if you're here and you still support Dolt 45, then it's reasonable to assume that you're also an overt bigot, so in that case, I guess...vote for the overt bigot that will advance your hatred.

I posted my comment in a thread full of progressives that are upset that he resigned.

It would be upsetting that ANY of them resigned. The VACANCY is the issue.

But I think you knew that...

__________________...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015

Outlawing abortion seems seems to be at odds with increasing Republican votes.

If Republicans cared as much as they claim, we would not have Trump as president. The 'economy, nationalism, and getoutofmycountry' has a massive lead on 'abortion, school prayer, and all things LGBT'.

__________________“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that...I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” - President Donald J. Trump, January 20, 2017.
"And it's, frankly, disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write. And people should look into it." - President Donald J. Trump, October 11, 2017.

Oh, yeah, the voter suppression has gotten terrible. Did you know that 137 million people voted for President in 2016, as compared to 105 million in 2000?

That's an irrelevant statistic.

The fact that more people in total vote in one election compared to another could be due to several factors... population growth, interest in the particular candidates, etc. Voter suppression does not mean that you can't have more votes cast overall, it just means that there are barriers to voting that makes it more difficult (and reduces turnout) for one particular demographic.

Here's a study from last year:

From: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...-study/517218/A new study from researchers Zoltan Hajnal, Nazita Lajevardi, and Lindsay Nielson at the University of California San Diego is one of the first to analyze certified votes across all states after the implementation of voter laws in multiple elections...researchers found that strict ID laws doubled the turnout gap between whites and Latinos in the general elections, and almost doubled the white-black turnout gap in primary elections.

Or how about: https://www.aclu.org/other/oppose-vo...ion-fact-sheet
A 2014 GAO study found that strict photo ID laws reduce turnout by 2-3 percentage points... Several studies, including a 2014 GAO study, have found that photo ID laws have a particularly depressive effect on turnout among racial minorities and other vulnerable groups, worsening the participation gap between voters of color and whites

ETA: In 2000, voter turnout was 56.6%. In 2016, voter turnout was 55.4%.

The actual number of Americans preferring a conservative Supreme Court is quite possibly higher.

__________________“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that...I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” - President Donald J. Trump, January 20, 2017.
"And it's, frankly, disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write. And people should look into it." - President Donald J. Trump, October 11, 2017.

Maybe, maybe not. What trump has taught USCIS that a significant minority of the American population is stupid. (Racist too..) Many will vote against their own best interest as a result.

Fully half are below average.

Originally Posted by Segnosaur

Many may claim they want more conservative judges, but if the court actually starts attacking things the citizen actually likes (like porn) they will be unhappy.

I had the same thought today after giving my mother a litmus test on abortion. I asked her if she thought it should be illegal, and she replied that it was a sin. Which didn't quite answer the question. I think that for all the posturing that goes on there are quite a few pragmatists who want to keep their options open. My mom basically said she thought people should use better contraception.

She found my birth control pills when I was a teenager but notably did not throw them out. I took them to school where up to a year's supply of Ortho Novum threatened to come cascading out whenever I opened my locker.

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